A Royal Surprise
by darnedchild
Summary: A Cabin Pressure fic - Geeeet dressed, you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! For it is Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Day! (A wee bit of an MJN reunion, set at least a year after 'Zurich')


**A/N : strangelock221b** suggested having a Fandom Christmas in July thingy, and I thought "Heck yeah, I want to do a thing for that." And then she put out a list of potential prompts and I though "Double heck yeah!" So here is a little ficlet that sort of used prompt #3 - going home to see the folks, and #9 - a surprise stocking stuffer.

Thanks to **Lilsherlockian1975** for looking this over for me.

 **A Royal Surprise**

"Fitton Tower, this is Tango Golf Bravo Charlie established on the ILS."

"Roger, Tango Golf Bravo Charlie. Runway three-six clear to land."

"Roger. Clear to land, three-six."

"… Martin?"

"Hello, Karl. Merry Christmas."

இڿڰۣ-ڰۣ—

Carolyn heard the outer door to the departure lounge open and held up her hand to stop Arthur's latest rambling flight of fancy. "That will be George, he said he'd be coming by this afternoon. Arthur, dear, please let him know we're just finishing up."

She'd barely had a chance to turn back to Herc and Douglas to wrap up the weekly scheduling brief, when Arthur's excited voice rang out from the other room.

"Mum, it's Martin and Theresa!"

Carolyn and the two pilots shared a look, then all three of them hurried into the portacabin after Arthur.

Martin was smoothing down his Swiss Airways First Officer's uniform which had probably been ruffled up by an exuberant hug exactly like the one Arthur was subjecting Theresa to at the moment.

Arthur released her and spun around like an excited puppy who had only just discovered its tail. "Douglas! Look, it's Martin and Theresa!"

"I had noticed that. Hello, Martin." Douglas offered Theresa a charming smile. "Lovely to see you as always, Princess."

Theresa giggled, "Ever the flirt, Douglas."

Herc stepped forward to shake Martin's hand. "My old mates still treating you well?"

"Oh, God, yes. Thank you for introducing me, by the way." Martin enthusiastically pumped Herc's hand. "How is life at OJS?"

"Superb," Herc drawled, his voice low and smooth in a way that brought a hint of an embarrassed smile to Carolyn's lips.

She rushed to change the subject. "Not that it isn't wonderful to see you both, but what brings you to Fitton this close to Christmas? I thought you said you were planning to stay in Lichtenstein until January?"

"Plans changed." Theresa rolled her eyes. "At the last moment, my mother decided to spend the holiday in the tropics. My sisters saw that as a sign to go skiing and get as far away from Mother as possible. Maxie was already planning to stay with the Sheikh of Qatar over the school break, so . . . We thought it would be nice to come visit Martin's family."

"The Sheikh of Qatar?" Arthur asked. "I thought Maxie hated him."

"He did," Theresa confirmed. "Then a new boy started at the beginning of the term, and he began picking on Maxie, really made my brother's life miserable for a few days. Then the Sheikh stood up and said no one else got to speak to Maxie that way. That my brother outranked the obnoxious little prince since Maxie was a King, and he could have the boy's head cut off for treason. Maxie and the Sheikh have been the best of friends ever since."

"Aww." Arthur's expression softened and turned a little dopey. "I love a happy ending."

Martin took up the story. "Since our original plans had been cancelled, I volunteered for the flight coming in today, got Theresa a seat, and here we are." He threw his hands out wide, the small gold band on his finger briefly flashed the sunlight coming through the portacabin window.

Arthur's gasp filled the small room. "You got married? Without telling us?"

Martin and Theresa shared a soft look, then he reached for her hand. "It was a spur of the moment thing. Very informal."

Her ring was small and discreet, befitting the bride of an airline pilot rather than the showy ring of a princess. In a word, it was perfect for Theresa.

Carolyn gestured toward one of the pair of settees in the departure lounge, nicer than the worn pieces of furniture that had been in use when they had been known as MJN. "Sit, please. Tell us all about it."

Theresa perched on the edge of a cushion with Martin standing at her side, grinning down at her. Carolyn took the seat next to her, while Douglas and Arthur took the settee opposite. Herc leaned against the wall.

"You may have heard that Mother got married," Theresa began. "For the third time."

"Oh, like Mum!"

"That's enough, Arthur." Carolyn gestured for Theresa to continue. "You were saying, dear?"

"It was a bit of a circus, as you can imagine. We were sitting at the rehearsal dinner and realized the Bishop was right there. Maxie was looking for any excuse to stay up past his bedtime so he was more than happy to give his official royal blessing. As if we needed it." Theresa cast a teasing wink up at her husband.

"It's protocol. It was just the proper thing to do." Martin flushed when everyone else gave him a knowing look. "Our news got buried in the excitement of the Queen's wedding."

"We had planned to host a reception—which you all would have been invited to—after my mother returned from her honeymoon. But she left nearly three months ago, and recently called to inform us that she's enjoying herself with the Prince Consort and intends to spend the rest of the winter abroad." Theresa shrugged as if to say 'She's the Queen, what can you do?'

Martin reached for his wife's hand and leaned down to kiss the back of it. "It might be a bit awkward to have a party to formally announce the wedding at that point, considering . . ."

Theresa bit her lower lip as her free hand fell to her stomach.

Douglas figured it out first. "Oh well done, Martin."

Arthur's head swivelled between his current and former Captains. "What did he do?"

Martin flushed even more. "Well, I didn't do it alone. Obviously. I mean, Theresa was there to-to, I mean-"

"Yes, Martin. We understand what you mean." Thankfully, Carolyn was willing to put him out of his misery. "Congratulations, you two."

Arthur held up his hands. "I still don't get it."

"Theresa's pregnant, Arthur," Herc answered before anyone else could. He'd always been patient with the younger man. His way with Arthur had been one of the reasons Carolyn had finally agreed to marry him.

"Oh, wow. That's brilliant!"

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Martin couldn't stop grinning.

"Does your family know yet?" Carolyn asked.

Martin shook his head. "We got a little infant shirt that says 'Granny's Lil' Pilot' on the front, I'm going to try to sneak it into Mum's stocking on Christmas morning when Cat and Simon come over to open presents."

"Mother's extended honeymoon gave us the chance we've been wanting, to be able to tell Martin's family in person." Theresa squeezed Martin's hand and then smiled at everyone else. "So here we are. Telling you."


End file.
